Search results matching tags 'Presentations' and 'PASS'http://sqlblog.com/search/SearchResults.aspx?o=DateDescending&tag=Presentations,PASS&orTags=0Search results matching tags 'Presentations' and 'PASS'en-USCommunityServer 2.1 SP2 (Build: 61129.1)Some Thoughts on Event Speaker Selectionhttp://sqlblog.com/blogs/andy_leonard/archive/2014/11/26/some-thoughts-on-event-speaker-selection.aspxWed, 26 Nov 2014 11:06:00 GMT21093a07-8b3d-42db-8cbf-3350fcbf5496:56812andyleonard<p><i>I write this from the perspective of experience. I’ve helped organize dozens of events over the past ten years. Feel free to take the parts of this advice that help and discard the parts that don’t. Enjoy!</i></p> <p>Planning an event is hard work. If you’ve never volunteered to help your local User Group or SQL Saturday, I encourage you to get involved. You will work hard and put a lot into it. But I promise you will get more out of it than you put in.</p> <p>Every organizer is free to organize their event in whatever way works for them. Different organizers have different goals. Not all goals align and not all goals are compatible. And that’s as it should be. It’s important to <i>have</i> a goal, though. Don’t go into organizing an event without priorities. Perhaps your priorities will include providing a forum for first-time presenters to speak. Perhaps your priorities will include facilitating well-known technologists presenting deep-dive topics. These priorities are mutually exclusive but many other priorities are not. (There’s no rule against mutually exclusive priorities…)</p> <p><i>Thought 1: Set some priorities. </i></p> <p>You may decide to host an open call for presenters. You may decide to invite presenters to deliver certain content. Either is fine. SQL Saturdays and the PASS Summit host open calls for presentations. Each year a number of first-time presenters are selected to present at SQL Saturdays and the PASS Summit. I think this is awesome! In fact, I’ve long encouraged the PASS Summit organizers to include more first-time presenters. Although I doubt I was the only person who made this recommendation, I’m very pleased that there are more first-time presenters than ever at PASS Summit events. </p> <p>Growing first-time presenters is good for the community. Will they make mistakes? Probably. I did. Allowing first-timers to get up there and take a shot is an investment in the future of the community. </p> <p><i>Thought 2: If you’re hosting an open call for presentations, set aside some slots for first-time presenters.</i></p> <p>Speaker selection is hard, especially when there are more speakers than available speaking slots. As an organizer, priorities can help here. When I organized events, they grew in popularity to the point where we had more speakers than slots. Our selection committee decided to award a single slot to as many speakers as possible, and promised those not awarded a priority at the next event. Some speakers (few, thankfully) were unwilling to present unless they received multiple sessions. Those speakers were rarely accommodated at events for which I volunteered. While I understand the desire of a speaker to maximize the value of their travel and time, the event is about more than any one speaker.</p> <p>It is impossible to please everyone. Are you bored? Do you like a good fight? Tune into Twitter the day after PASS Summit session selections are announced. You will be sure to catch disappointment and complaints (sometimes from me!). It’s simply impossible to award everyone who submits an abstract a session. It gets even more complicated when the (non-trivial) amount of money PASS Summit pre-conference sessions generate are added to the mix. </p> <p>The fact someone complains doesn’t mean you did a bad job. It means someone doesn’t like the way you did your job. And since most organizers are volunteers, you don’t have to worry about losing any (more) money. While listening to complaints about the free hours you poured into this volunteer effort stinks to high heaven, please realize this is part of the job. If you are the type of individual who doesn’t tolerate complaints well, please do not do this to yourself!</p> <p><i>Thought 3: Realize someone is going to complain.</i></p> <p>Some of the complaints will be valid. If you select only your friends or only people who fall into this category or that, you can expect legitimate complaints. If you have more submissions than slots and you select some speakers for multiple presentations while not selecting other speakers, again, expect complaints. Ethics come into play here as well. If you select yourself, be prepared to defend your selection – especially if selecting yourself means not selecting someone else, there’s money involved (like the PASS Summit pre-conferences), you have a non-trivial personal relationship with the person selected, or some combination thereof. Remember, you don’t have to <i>be</i> wrong to <i>appear</i> wrong, and all that’s required to breach ethics is the <i>appearance</i> of misconduct. It’s usually best to simply pick someone else.</p> <p>Again, priorities can help. Be aware of the perceptions of your choices. People are lousy at reading minds, so publicly communicating your priorities in advance will diffuse mounds of misperceptions. Privately communicating with those not selected will help as well. It sounds trivial – especially when dealing with an experienced, national- or international-level speaker – to drop them a note saying, “We didn’t select you this time but we appreciate your submission and promise to give your submission priority consideration next year.” But it helps. Failure to communicate is a devastating leadership flaw, volunteer or no.</p> <p>The best response to legitimate complaints is to admit your mistake, apologize for it, and work to correct it – immediately and / or in the future.</p> <p><i>Thought 4: Respond to valid complaints.</i></p> <p>These are a few bullets I hope will help everyone managing or considering organizing an event. Thank you, event organizers, for all you do for our community!</p> <p>:{&gt;</p>Some Thoughts on Communityhttp://sqlblog.com/blogs/andy_leonard/archive/2011/10/14/some-thoughts-on-community.aspxFri, 14 Oct 2011 06:27:00 GMT21093a07-8b3d-42db-8cbf-3350fcbf5496:39039andyleonard<p>In my post last night entitled <a href="http://sqlblog.com/blogs/andy_leonard/archive/2011/10/13/note-to-self-no-head-injuries-before-presenting.aspx" target="_blank">Note to Self: No Head Injuries Before Presenting</a> I told the story of a Lightning Talk presentation. I really liked the pictures that didn’t make it into the session. Since I worked so hard on them, I wanted to show the slides with the pictures:</p> <p><img style="border:0px currentColor;padding-top:0px;padding-right:0px;padding-left:0px;background-image:none;" border="0" src="http://vsteamsystemcentral.com/images/ext/CommunityThoughtsSlides1.jpg"></p> <p><img style="border:0px currentColor;padding-top:0px;padding-right:0px;padding-left:0px;background-image:none;" border="0" src="http://vsteamsystemcentral.com/images/ext/CommunityThoughtsSlides2.jpg"></p> <p><img src="http://vsteamsystemcentral.com/images/ext/CommunityThoughtsSlides3.jpg"></p> <p><img src="http://vsteamsystemcentral.com/images/ext/CommunityThoughtsSlides4.jpg"></p> <p><img src="http://vsteamsystemcentral.com/images/ext/CommunityThoughtsSlides5.jpg"></p> <p><img src="http://vsteamsystemcentral.com/images/ext/CommunityThoughtsSlides6.jpg"></p> <p><img src="http://vsteamsystemcentral.com/images/ext/CommunityThoughtsSlides7.jpg"></p> <p><img src="http://vsteamsystemcentral.com/images/ext/CommunityThoughtsSlides8.jpg"></p> <p><img src="http://vsteamsystemcentral.com/images/ext/CommunityThoughtsSlides9.jpg"></p> <p><img src="http://vsteamsystemcentral.com/images/ext/CommunityThoughtsSlides10.jpg"></p> <p><img src="http://vsteamsystemcentral.com/images/ext/CommunityThoughtsSlides11.jpg"></p> <p><img src="http://vsteamsystemcentral.com/images/ext/CommunityThoughtsSlides12.jpg"></p> <p>:{&gt;</p>My PASS Summit Presentation Submissionshttp://sqlblog.com/blogs/andy_leonard/archive/2011/05/05/my-pass-summit-presentation-submissions.aspxThu, 05 May 2011 11:00:00 GMT21093a07-8b3d-42db-8cbf-3350fcbf5496:35442andyleonard<p><strong>Introduction</strong></p> <p>It is always an honor to present – always. This year I have submitted four presentations to the <a href="http://www.sqlpass.org/summit/2011/" target="_blank">PASS Summit 2011</a>. You can view my submissions, as well as those of others, <a href="http://www.sqlpass.org/summit/2011/Speakers/CallForSpeakers/Submissions.aspx" target="_blank">here</a>.</p> <p><strong>A Day of SSIS in the Enterprise <br></strong><em>Pre-conference session, 7 hours</em></p> <p>In this day-long seminar, SQL Server MVPs Andy Leonard and Tim Mitchell - along with Microsoft SSIS Developer Matt Masson - demonstrate an SSIS development methodology for teams building enterprise-class solutions. Topics include: <br> - SSIS Design Patterns <br> - ETL Best Practices <br> - Metadata-Driven SSIS Execution <br> - Centralized Logging <br> - SSIS Frameworks <br> - Package Execution Monitoring <br> - Predictive Analytics <br> - Source Control <br> - ETL Auditing <br> - Deployment <br> - Security </p> <p>The presentation team provides examples of SSIS Design Patterns from their upcoming book: SSIS Design Patterns; actionable demonstrations for building and maintaining SSIS packages in the enterprise; practical patterns that support ETL performance, instrumentation, and deployment; and pragmatic guidance for enterprise ETL Lifecycle Management. They share from their experiences as consultants, developers in the enterprise, and experience managing teams of SSIS developers for years. The information and advice of this team is applicable in organizations of any size.</p> <p><strong>“I See a Control Flow Tab. Now What?” <br></strong><em>Regular session, 75 minutes</em></p> <p>This highly-interactive, demo-intense presentation is for database professionals and developers who are just getting started with SSIS or want to know more about SSIS package development. Attend and learn how to build SSIS packages from the ground up from SQL Server MVP and author Andy Leonard!</p> <p><strong>Managing Teams <br></strong><em>Regular session, 75 minutes</em></p> <p>Are you a member of a team of database professionals? Are you part of a developer team? Do you manage or lead a team? This presentation is for you. Andy Leonard shares experiences, lessons learned, and war stories and from years of managing and leading teams.</p> <p><strong>SSIS in the Enterprise</strong> <br><em>Regular session, 75 minutes</em></p> <p>Elegant solutions deliver function and form. SSIS - in Denali and previous versions - supports elegant design. In this presentation, SQL Server MVP and author Andy Leonard demonstrates key components of an SSIS Framework to facilitate SSIS development that performs and is manageable in the modern enterprise. You can have it all - fast ETL processes, execution lineage, real-time reporting, and historical auditing - and Andy will show you how! </p> <p><span style="font-size:9.5pt;mso-ansi-language:EN-US;mso-fareast-language:EN-US;mso-bidi-language:AR-SA;"><strong>“So You Want to be a Database Professional?”</strong></span><span style="font-size:9.5pt;mso-ansi-language:EN-US;mso-fareast-language:EN-US;mso-bidi-language:AR-SA;">&nbsp;(Added after I realized I could submit one more regular session)<br></span><em>Regular session, 75 minutes</em></p><p>Andy Leonard facilitates a discussion about becoming a database professional, compares and contrasts the many different careers included in the field "database professional", provides tips on career management and professional growth, and advises attendees about personal branding in a corporate environment.</p><p><strong>Conclusion</strong></p> <p>There are a lot of great submissions to this year’s <a href="http://www.sqlpass.org/summit/2011/" target="_blank">Summit</a> and I wish everyone the very best! </p> <p>:{&gt;</p>SQLRally Precons Are Only $199!http://sqlblog.com/blogs/andy_leonard/archive/2011/04/18/sqlrally-precons-are-only-199.aspxMon, 18 Apr 2011 18:00:00 GMT21093a07-8b3d-42db-8cbf-3350fcbf5496:34982andyleonard<p>… but a couple are almost sold out!</p> <p>Kendal Van Dyke (<a href="http://www.kendalvandyke.com/2011/04/meet-sqlrally-precon-presenters.html" target="_blank">Blog</a> | <a href="http://www.twitter.com/SQLDBA" target="_blank">@SQLDBA</a>) wrote a <a href="http://www.kendalvandyke.com/2011/04/meet-sqlrally-precon-presenters.html" target="_blank">great post</a> about the presenters for the inaugural <a href="http://www.sqlpass.org/sqlrally/2011/orlando/" target="_blank">SQLRally</a> scheduled for 11-13 May 2011 in sunny Orlando! $199 for a day-long pre-conference session by these presenters is a great deal. I encourage you to check it out!</p> <p>:{&gt;</p>PASS Summit 2010 – Session Presentations and Demoshttp://sqlblog.com/blogs/jonathan_kehayias/archive/2010/11/20/pass-summit-2010-session-presentations-and-demos.aspxSun, 21 Nov 2010 02:48:00 GMT21093a07-8b3d-42db-8cbf-3350fcbf5496:30841jmkehayias<P>I know I am late on actually publishing these, but here are the presentation slide decks and demo’s from the two sessions I presented at PASS Summit 2010.&nbsp; Attached to this post are two zip files that contain all the materials for each of the sessions.&nbsp; You will probably notice that I haven’t published PowerPoint slides, and that all of the code files for the demo’s have a copyright and license agreement on them that didn’t exist in my PASS presentations.&nbsp; This is because I have had issues in the past year with someone using my slides and demo’s without permission to present my content at other events, which is unacceptable.&nbsp; If you are interested in reusing this material send me an email with your contact information, where and when you would like reuse the information and I will review your request on a case by case basis.</P>
<P><A href="http://sqlblog.com/blogs/jonathan_kehayias/attachment/30841.ashx" target=_blank>SQL PASS 2010 Presentations.zip</A></P>Presenting Managing Teams to PASS Professional Development Virtual Chapterhttp://sqlblog.com/blogs/andy_leonard/archive/2010/07/12/presenting-managing-teams-to-pass-professional-development-virtual-chapter.aspxMon, 12 Jul 2010 11:00:00 GMT21093a07-8b3d-42db-8cbf-3350fcbf5496:26917andyleonard<P>I am honored to present Managing Teams to the <A href="http://prof-dev.sqlpass.org/" target=_blank>PASS Professional Development VC Tuesday 13 Jul 2010 at 1:00 PM EDT</A>!</P>
<P><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY:'Arial','sans-serif';FONT-SIZE:9.5pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;mso-fareast-font-family:'Times New Roman';">Are you a member of a team of database professionals? Are you part of a developer&nbsp;team? Do you manage or lead a team? This presentation is for you. Andy Leonard shares experiences, war stories, and lessons learned from years of managing and leading teams.</SPAN></P>
<P><SPAN style="FONT-FAMILY:'Arial','sans-serif';FONT-SIZE:9.5pt;mso-bidi-font-size:11.0pt;mso-fareast-font-family:'Times New Roman';">:{&gt;</SPAN></P>PASS Session Evaluationshttp://sqlblog.com/blogs/jonathan_kehayias/archive/2010/01/13/pass-session-evaluations.aspxWed, 13 Jan 2010 07:12:36 GMT21093a07-8b3d-42db-8cbf-3350fcbf5496:20988jmkehayias<p>Tonight I got my session evaluations back from PASS for the first large presentation I have ever done.&#160; I am somewhat surprised by the results, they are actually much better than I expected.&#160; </p> <p><a href="http://sqlblog.com/blogs/jonathan_kehayias/image_0388553E.png"><img style="border-right-width:0px;display:inline;border-top-width:0px;border-bottom-width:0px;border-left-width:0px;" title="image" border="0" alt="image" src="http://sqlblog.com/blogs/jonathan_kehayias/image_thumb_615049B7.png" width="631" height="290" /></a></p> <p>I definitely have a number of things to work on as far as public speaking goes.&#160; Paul Randal gave me a number of tips while I was still at PASS that I have made notes to try and pay attention to the next time I do a presentation.&#160; Some things Paul pointed out were:</p> <ol> <li>When someone asks a question, repeat it back so that the entire audience can hear it.&#160; Then when you answer the question everyone knows what you are talking about. </li> <li>Purchase a remote to control your slide deck, allowing you to step away from the computer.&#160; One of the limitations on crowd interaction I had was that I was tied to the podium controlling my slide deck.&#160; Paul Randal recommended a <a title="http://www.lasermouse.com/" href="http://www.lasermouse.com/" target="_blank">Laser Mouse.</a> </li> <li>Set the fonts inside of SQL Server Management Studio larger than the defaults.&#160; I believe that 14 point was the recommended size, and it is definitely easier to see on a projector.</li> <li>Even after doing the above, install <a title="http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb897434.aspx" href="http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb897434.aspx" target="_blank">ZoomIt by SysInternals</a> and then learn how to use it effectively.&#160; Most of my demonstrations were plagued by standard font sizes that were impossible to see unless you were sitting on the front row of the presentation.</li> <li>Mix demonstrations into the talk at logical points instead of performing them all at the end.</li> <li>Always have a watch and know the amount of time that is left in your session.&#160; I was very lucky to have Andrew Kelly sitting on the front row of my session and he noticed that I had no idea about where I was time wise in the middle of my presentation.&#160; He provided me fifteen, ten and five minute warnings so that I could complete my session timely, something for which I am extremely thankful.</li> </ol> <p>At the recommendation of many people in the community, I have located a local Toastmasters group that I hope to work with to learn how to be a better public speaker.&#160; One thing that I would like to be able to do is mix the occasional humor in with the technical content, something I am sure I could do, if I was more comfortable while speaking.&#160; I don’t have any expectations that I would be anything like Buck Woody, but would like to be a bit less dry when presenting.</p> <p>To those that attended my session and rated it, thank you.&#160; Hopefully with a bit of work, I can transform this graph more towards the Excellent side of things.</p>Q: Should You Present At Your Local User Group?http://sqlblog.com/blogs/jonathan_kehayias/archive/2009/11/23/q-should-you-present-at-your-local-user-group.aspxTue, 24 Nov 2009 04:15:10 GMT21093a07-8b3d-42db-8cbf-3350fcbf5496:19138jmkehayias<h3>A: You Bet!!!</h3> <p>Lets face it, User Groups need speakers and while its great to have the experts in the industry like Andy Leonard, Buck Woody, or Joe Webb come to your user group, if you get one of them once a year, you are doing good.&#160; One of the most interesting sessions at our <a href="http://www.tampasql.com" target="_blank">local user group</a> in the last two years, at least to me, was actually given by one of the members of our own group, Andreas Etelkozi on Data Scrambling, scrambling the data inside of a database to remove personally identifying information and the ability to correlate what belongs to who in reality(ie. Joe Woody, Buck Leonard, or Andy Webb in the resulting data).&#160; What made the session so interesting to me was the fact that it was just something that Andreas does as a normal part of his work, and he was sharing that information with the group.</p> <p>I did my first presentation on SQL Server just under eighteen months ago to a group in Orlando about running SQL Server virtualized on VMware ESX, and lessons learned from two years being virtualized.&#160; This is actually where I first met Jorge Segarra (<a href="http://sqlchicken.com/" target="_blank">Blog</a>/<a href="http://twitter.com/sqlchicken" target="_blank">Twitter</a>) who also is a member of the Tampa Bay SQL User Group.&#160; I was later invited to present the same session a month or two later at the Tampa SQL Server User Group, and I’ve been presenting from time to time since then.&#160; I’ve presented to as little as six people and to over two hundred last month at PASS Summit, my first time speaking at a major conference event.</p> <p><strong>But I don’t know what to/have anything to talk about….</strong></p> <p>RUBBISH!!&#160; Let me first dispel the idea that you don’t know enough to put together a session.&#160; Some of the most popular sessions at local events have been the TSQL 101 sessions that cover how to write a proper SELECT statement, JOIN two tables together, use ISNULL and COALESCE, or aggregate data with GROUP BY.&#160; The key here is “If you present it, they will come…” It doesn’t necessarily matter what you are presenting, or that you don’t know everything about the subject, the odds are that you are going to cover things that most people don’t know or think about in their day to day work, and perhaps that information will help them at some point later on.&#160; </p> <p>Need some ideas for topics, what are you currently working on, or even better, what are you interested in knowing more about?&#160; If you just solved a problem with SQL Server at work, think about how nice it would have been if someone had presented about that problem and how to overcome it before you had to deal with the problem.&#160; I sometimes present about trending or common problems I see from the forums, or in question and answer sessions at our user group.&#160; Other times I will pick a topic to present that I want to learn more about myself.&#160; Why, because it motivates me to learn the materials, and while I am building my presentation I am fortifying my own learning about the topic.&#160; Then I’ll actually present the material at an event, and get feedback on the material.&#160; I’ve had people pull me to the side and correct mistakes I made after my session, and I’ve had people openly challenge things in the middle of a session as well.&#160; I’ve also had people mention specific points in the presentation where I might have covered another topic as well.&#160; I learn from every presentation that I do, and I am learning to become a better presenter as well.</p> <p><strong>Someone else already presented that…</strong></p> <p>SO WHAT!!!&#160; Someone already wrote this blog post too.&#160; You are still reading this one, and people will still want to listen to your presentation.&#160; Ever hear a joke before, and then hear it again?&#160; Is it any less funny the second time because you knew the punch line?&#160; Not for me it isn’t.&#160; I still laugh my behind off when the punch line comes if it is a good joke.&#160; What if you miss an important part of the joke?&#160; Does that matter?&#160; Sometimes, but people rarely miss the meat of the joke, and you would be hard pressed to miss the meat of the material giving a presentation.&#160;&#160; What’s really great though is every now and then you meet someone who is retelling that same old joke, but they add in a new twist, a funny gesture, some good visuals and it becomes even more funny.&#160; The same thing goes with presenting the same materials, you might just create an example that solidifies the material and really makes the subject come to life.</p> <p><strong>I won’t compare to Experts like Andy, Joe, or Buck…</strong></p> <p>NEITHER WILL I!!&#160; Lets face it, some people really have it when it comes to presentation skills.&#160; However, if you talk to any of these guys, they will tell you that they aren’t anything special.&#160; (Ok, so Buck is special, but it is a different kind of special. Write down those who are special.)&#160; Have you ever actually talked to some of the big names in the SQL Server community?&#160; People tend to put them on a pedestal all the time, and I tend to do it myself, but in reality they are just like you and me, normal people.&#160; However, what you will find is that most of the experts are very focused on what they are an expert in.&#160; Paul Randal doesn’t answer SSIS package development questions and Andy Leonard doesn’t answer complex problems with CHECKDB for a reason.&#160; Andy is a SSIS expert and Paul is a CHECKDB and storage engine expert.&#160; If you are presenting on a storage engine topic, chances are that Paul Randal knows more, but I can’t imagine that he would ever interrupt your session unless you offered up some really, really bad advice that would be damaging to someone's system.&#160; The same goes for Andy Leonard, and Buck Woody, though Buck might interrupt your session with members from his audience by telling them that you were buying the beer at the end of the event (true story).</p> <p><strong>Conclusion…</strong></p> <p>So now that I took away all of your reasons to not present, pick a topic, open up Outlook, compose a new message, address it to a user group leader and find out when the next opening to speak is at the user group.&#160; Then build your presentation.&#160; Don’t know where to start with that, take a look at Joe Webb’s SimpleTalk article <a href="http://www.simple-talk.com/opinion/opinion-pieces/creating-technical-presentations/" target="_blank">Creating Technical Presentations</a> (see I told you someone else already wrote this blog post, but you’ll still read his too).&#160; Don’t let you stop yourself from sharing great information with your fellow community members.&#160; </p>Less than two weeks to PASS Summit 2009http://sqlblog.com/blogs/jonathan_kehayias/archive/2009/10/20/less-than-two-weeks-to-pass-summit-2009.aspxTue, 20 Oct 2009 17:39:15 GMT21093a07-8b3d-42db-8cbf-3350fcbf5496:18015jmkehayias<p>Coming right off a excellent weekend in Central Florida with SQL Saturday, PASS Summit is now less than two weeks away.&#160; Hopefully by now you have already registered since there was a lower price for early registration, but in the event that you haven't there is still time to register.&#160; This will be the first major conference that I will be attending where I will also be speaking.&#160; I'll be presenting <a href="http://summit2009.sqlpass.org/Agenda/ProgramSessions/OpeningtheSQLServer2008Troubleshooting.aspx">Opening the SQL Server 2008 Troubleshooting Toolbox: An Introduction to Extended Events</a> which should be a good introduction, leading into Adam Machanic's Spotlight session <a href="http://summit2009.sqlpass.org/Agenda/SpotlightSessions/SQLServer2008ExtendedEventsPerformanceProfi.aspx">Advanced SQL Server 2008 Extended Events: Performance Profiling and Troubleshooting Techniques</a>. </p> <blockquote> <p><b>Opening the SQL Server 2008 Troubleshooting Toolbox: An Introduction to Extended Events</b> <br /><b>Presenter: </b><a href="http://www.sqlpass.org/Community/PASSPort.aspx?ProfileID=38">Jonathan Kehayias</a> (OSI Restaurant Partners)</p> <p><b>Session Details</b></p> <p>New in SQL Server 2008, Extended Events bring a refreshing new deep look at what actually happens inside the Database Engine. This session will focus on how to use the default system_health session to perform initial troubleshooting, and how to create custom sessions using the available events, targets and actions available in the Extended Events metadata. The session will wrap up with how to use the information stored in the targets to solve specific problems.</p> </blockquote> <blockquote> <p><b>Advanced SQL Server 2008 Extended Events: Performance Profiling and Troubleshooting Techniques</b> <br /><b>Presenter: </b><a href="http://www.sqlpass.org/Community/PASSPort.aspx?ProfileID=15214">Adam Machanic</a> (SQLblog.com)</p> <p><b>Session Details</b></p> <p>Imagine tracking and aggregating wait statistics at the session level rather than the server level. Imagine seeing exactly how long each step in your query took and figuring out the real cost of that index scan. Imagine capturing an exception with an associated callstack--no more guessing about exactly which component failed and why. When you're done imagining, open your eyes and attend this session, where you will learn all of these techniques and more, all thanks to Extended Events (XEvents)--SQL Server 2008's powerful new tracing infrastructure. Designed for DBAs and developers who already understand the basics of XEvents, this session will go from 0 to 60 in the first few minutes. You will see a number of code examples and gain an understanding of how to maximize XEvents for performance profiling and troubleshooting purposes. If you are serious about making your SQL Servers fly, this is one session not to be missed. </p> </blockquote> <p>If you are interested in Extended Events in SQL Server 2008, these are two can't be missed sessions for PASS. Hope to see you there.</p>24 Hours of PASS Recordings - Pre/Post-Conference Speaker Sessions Availablehttp://sqlblog.com/blogs/jonathan_kehayias/archive/2009/09/09/24-hours-of-pass-recordings-pre-post-conference-speaker-sessions-available.aspxWed, 09 Sep 2009 23:32:55 GMT21093a07-8b3d-42db-8cbf-3350fcbf5496:16692jmkehayias<p>The session recordings from 24 hours of PASS for the Pre/Post-Conference Speakers at PASS Summit have been made available on the SQL PASS Website.&#160; It’s not very intuitive where exactly you have to click on the landing page they provide so I thought I’d make it easier by providing a copy of the correct link here:</p> <blockquote> <p><a href="https://www323.livemeeting.com/lrs/8000181573/Registration.aspx?pageName=cw4mt2pg632crwfv">Pre/Post-Conference Sneak Peeks</a></p> </blockquote> <p>Speakers available in this set of 6 recorded sessions include:</p> <blockquote> <p>Analyzing File and Wait Statistics (Andrew Kelly) 58 minutes <br />What's Simple about Simple Recovery Model (Kalen Delaney) 56 minutes <br />Reporting from Analysis Services Cubes Using Excel 2007 (Peter Myers) 61 minutes <br />Data Warehousing: Laying the Foundation to Success (Erik Veerman) 59 minutes <br />SQLCLR or T-SQL? A Brief Survey of Performance Options (Adam Machanic) 57 minutes <br />Loading a Data Warehouse in SSIS (Brian Knight) 57 minutes</p> </blockquote> <p>The Q&amp;A sessions after the presentation are included in the recordings so stick around if you have a question and see if it gets answered as a part of the session.&#160; The remaining sessions will be made completely available after PASS Summit.</p>